Decision to use a pacifier often rests with the baby: Read how pacifiers affect dental and overall health.
Stork Parking: Life Editor Kristen Morales details her efforts to convince daughter Sofia, 2, to give up her pacifier.
How to bunk the pacifier habit
Find a replacement
Like Amber Tomanguilla's idea, pack the pacifier inside a stuffed toy, or take a special trip to the store to find a replacement for the pacifier. Make a big deal out of the toy and praise the child for using the toy as a bedtime companion rather than the pacifier.
Give it to another needy child
Variations on Tina Foreman's idea include:
- Sending the pacifiers to Santa Claus for the elf babies (then Santa can send a thank-you letter back)
- Giving it to the "binky fairy" who brings it to the new babies and leaves a present behind.
- Sending the pacifiers to China, where wee babies in Shanghai will sleep better with a donated pacifier.
Gradually whittling it away
Try slicing off bits of the pacifier until there's pretty much nothing left. Eventually, your child will say, "meh."
Passing it on
One parent suggested a burial service in the back yard, because its time had passed.
More resources
Gwinnett Area Mommies. Online community for advice and support, or set up playdates with other moms in Hall, Jackson, Gwinnett, Barrow and Walton counties.
MOMS Club of Gainesville. 10 a.m. first Wednesdays, Family Life Center, behind the First Baptist Church of Gainesville.
Mothers of Preschoolers. Moms can call for child care reservations. 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. second Thursdays, First United Methodist Church, 2780 Thompson Bridge Road, Gainesville. 706-867-1573.
Mothers of Preschoolers. 9:30 a.m.-noon first and third Thursdays, First Baptist Church, Gainesville. 678-677-8066 or coordinator@fbcgmops.org.
Newborn parenting. 6:30-9:30 p.m. second Monday of every other month, Northeast Georgia Medical Center. 770-535-3357.
The soft whimper came across the baby monitor a full two hours before everyone in the house usually woke up. And right in the middle of mom's REM sleep.
"Mommy. Binky."
Those two words conveyed the loss of a 2-year-old in the predawn hours and reminded a mother of the impending doom that is to come one day, when the child no longer sleeps with a pacifier. In this case, it was a "binky" lost under the covers in the crib. But in the future, it will be a binky lost forever.
But according to many local parents, a baby's breakup with a pacifier doesn't have to be all heartache.
Amber Tomanguilla, mother of three kids younger than 4, said she came up with a unique way to break her kids of the pacifier habit: Stuff them in a Build-A-Bear.
"I thought, ‘Oh, we should go to Build-A-Bear and they can put their passies in the bear and they can keep that.' And it worked," said the Lilburn resident. "The first night was a little rough, but we made a big deal about it. My son got a dog - it is his passie dog - and my daughter got a bunny - it is her passie bunny.
"They're their special treats, and it actually worked."
Because her two oldest were just a year apart, Tomanguilla and her husband, Giancarlo, decided both would break the habit together. Their youngest, a 13-month-old, never took to the pacifier.
"So I said, it is free reign to get rid of them," she said.
Another option for getting rid of the pacifier is explaining to your child that there are needy babies in this world who don't have a pacifier. Suddenly, your child has the ability to make a difference in the world (even if it is just pretend).
"We told her there are little babies in this world who do not have any pacifiers, and we could mail her pacifiers to the babies," said Tina Foreman, mother of 4 1/2-year-old Tanner. "And that way they could have them since she was a big girl."
Tanner was between age 2 and 3 when the decision was made to get rid of the pacifier.
"So, my husband got a box and put the pacifiers in it and put it in the mailbox and ‘mailed' it to the babies," Foreman said.
Many other mothers had similar suggestions, so we thought we would compile a list of options parents have when trying to break the binky habit.
Just remember, as Foreman said, it is sometimes about finding the right context for the child; something he or she can identify with.
"She said she wanted to make the little babies happy," Foreman said. "It was nothing truly magical, it was just the concept; it worked for her."